Once People See the Cage, They’ll Stop Mistaking It for Safety

Naomi Brockwell
Tue, 11 Nov 2025 14:53:29 +0000

How to Break Free from Tracking and Take Back Your Digital Freedom

This is guest post by NBTV community member Incognito Cat.

The internet promised us a borderless world of connection, but what it often delivers is surveillance. This isn’t a future threat, it’s the present reality. Governments and Big Tech are building a digital cage, luring us in with convenience while tightening the bars of control.

Every click, post, photo, search, and setting on our devices is designed to treat your personal life not as private, but as a resource to be harvested.

The good news is, you can leave the cage. Digital privacy isn’t about being paranoid; it’s about being sovereign. Control over your data is fundamental to a free life, and thanks to the growing number of easy-to-use, privacy-preserving tools like the ones in our Toolbox, there has never been a better time to choose that freedom.

Here is a practical, step-by-step framework for reclaiming your privacy and securing your digital existence.

1. Break Free: Embracing Privacy-Preserving Alternatives

Most people use the software that comes pre-installed on their computers and phones simply because it’s the default. Yet, these defaults are often the very mechanisms designed to maximize data collection.

The Action: Don’t just accept the software giants’ offerings. Seek out alternatives built with privacy as a foundational principle.

Browsers: Move from data-hungry browsers to options like Brave or Mullvad, which block trackers by default.

Search Engines: Ditch Google search for Brave Search or StartPage, which do not track your search history.

Email: Use end-to-end encrypted services like Proton Mail or Tuta Mail instead of standard free services.

Operating Systems: Investigate Linux distributions for desktops and more privacy-focused alternatives, like GrapheneOS, for mobile devices to minimize telemetry and data collection from the core operating system itself.

2. The Future of Security: Embracing Passkeys

For years, passwords have been the weakest link in digital security. They are susceptible to phishing, weak guessing, and data breaches. Passkeys, developed by the FIDO Alliance are the modern, phishing-resistant solution.

The Action: Where available, move to Passkeys immediately.

A Passkey is a digital credential stored securely on your device (like your phone or computer) and uses biometric verification (fingerprint, face scan) to log you in. They are based on cryptographic public-key technology, making them virtually immune to the common attacks that plague traditional passwords. They are more secure and significantly more convenient. Learn more about them here.

3. Foundational Defense: Passwords, Managers, and MFA

While more services are moving to support Passkeys, they are not yet universal. For every service that hasn’t made the switch, you need an impenetrable defense.

The Action: Establish an unshakeable security foundation:

Use a Password Manager: This is non-negotiable. Tools like Bitwarden, Proton Pass, or 1Password create, store, and manage complex, unique passwords for every single site. Never reuse a password.

Create Strong Passwords: Most password managers support generating unique passwords, so use that functionality to create longest passwords or phrases a site supports. Bonus: most password managers monitor the dark web for any password leaks.

Enable Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): If a service offers MFA, always enable it. Prefer dedicated authentication apps (like Ente Auth, Proton Authenticator or Aegis) over SMS-based MFA, which can be intercepted. And never store in your password manager.

4. The OSINT Threat: Erasing Your Digital Footprint

Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) is the practice of gathering data from publicly available sources. This is how bad actors, and even benign researchers, can piece together an alarming amount of information about you, from your current address to your family members and even your daily routine.

The Action: Minimize and remove your publicly available data.

Data Broker Opt-Out: Identity yourself on major data-broker sites (like Whitepages, Spokeo, etc.) and follow their specific, often tedious, processes to have your data removed.

Social Media Audit: Review every post, photo, and privacy setting on all social platforms. Remove old, unnecessary data, and set your profile to the highest privacy level possible.

Stop Over-Sharing: Be highly judicious about what you post, tag, or check into. Every piece of information is a puzzle piece for someone looking to exploit you.

Learn more at our post here.

5. Locking and Controlling Nonpublic Personal Information

Your most sensitive data (your financial life) requires a specific, aggressive defense.

The Action: Place a security freeze on your credit.

A Credit Security Freeze prevents credit reporting agencies (like Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) from sharing your credit file. This is the single best way to prevent someone from opening an account in your name, as a new creditor cannot access the necessary report.

This is now free, easy to do online, and can be temporarily lifted when you genuinely need to apply for credit. There is no impact to your credit rating.

There is a guide to locking down and controlling your information here.

6. Vigilance: Resisting Government Overreach, Digital IDs, and CBDCs

The conversation around digital identity is shifting, and with it, the potential for unprecedented levels of governmental control and surveillance.

The Action: Be an informed advocate for privacy-first policy.

Digital IDs: While convenient, government-issued Digital IDs must be scrutinized for their architecture. If they centralize too much data, they create a single point of failure and a powerful tool for monitoring citizens’ activities. Remember, if it’s digital it can and will be hacked.

Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs): A CBDC could potentially program money, allowing a central authority to track, control, or even place expiration dates on your funds. The shift from anonymous cash to fully traceable digital currency is a massive concern for financial freedom.

Demand Decentralization: Support technologies and policies that prioritize decentralized, privacy-respecting identity and financial tools.

Outages: We’ve seen large network and power outages. Just recently, the government of South Korea had a fire in their data center that could mean the potential permanent loss of 858TB of data. ID Cards and cash always work!

7. Shielding Yourself: Techniques to Avoid Being a Victim

The final layer of defense is awareness and smart habits.

The Action: Practice proactive digital hygiene.

Spot Phishing: Never click a link or download an attachment from an unsolicited email, especially those demanding immediate action or financial details. Hover over links to see the true destination URL.

Isolate Sensitive Activity: Use a dedicated, secure computer or virtual machine for sensitive activities like banking or taxes.

Use a VPN: A reputable Virtual Private Network (VPN) encrypts your internet connection, shielding your activity from your Internet Service Provider (ISP) and protecting you on public Wi-Fi networks. Be careful, there are a lot of scam apps in the VPN world. We like ProtonVPN and Mullvad. Learn more about VPNs and the dangers of scam apps here.

8. Finally: Why This Is All So Important in This Digital Age

Why go to all this effort? Because privacy is not just a feature, it’s a prerequisite for liberty.

In the digital age, our data is the raw material for control. If every purchase, search, interaction, and location is tracked, analyzed, and stored, a comprehensive picture of your life can be used to influence your decisions, manipulate your emotions, and ultimately, limit your freedom.

The cage is the illusion of security provided by centralized services that know everything about you.

By taking control of your data, and choosing alternatives, using Passkeys, freezing your credit, and demanding policy that respects your right to privacy, you step out of that cage and into the open air of digital sovereignty. This is the work of a free citizen in the 21st century.

Remember: we may not have anything to hide, but everything to protect!

Yours in privacy,
Incognito Cat